BCT Editorial – 5/3/05

This page was last updated on May 8, 2005.

Bring it on; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 3, 2005.

This is the third editorial in three weeks insisting, “the problem is not DeLay,” yet all of the editorials mention Rep. DeLay repeatedly and none mention anyone else. Does the author not believe his agenda isn’t 100% transparent? The previous editorials were entitled “Power failure” and “One master.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“House Republicans argue that what is good for the goose is good for the gander when in comes to investigating ethics.

“Furious that they could not stop an ethics investigation into House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s conduct, some Republicans are threatening to go after Democrats.”

[RWC] Nothing like a little revisionist history. Rep. DeLay and Republicans wanted launch a formal investigation because DeLay said he wanted to clear his name. Democrats blocked progress on the investigation when they refused to participate until some Ethics Committee rule changes were rolled back.

I won’t get into the details of the rule changes, but they were intended to 1) provide an accused representative with a better opportunity to respond to allegations, and 2) to make the process more closely mirror the indictment process used in the “normal” U.S. justice system.

“That’s fine with us. As we have argued before, the problem is not DeLay. Rather, he is merely the symbol for the way in which special-interest money is polluting American government and undermining democracy in America.”

[RWC] As noted above, the author tells us “the problem is not DeLay,” yet the author fails to mention anyone else. What BS!

“So, by all means, let the GOP investigate Democrats, and have the Democrats counterattack. In doing so, we hope they pull the whole mess down around themselves.”

[RWC] I don’t believe this for one second. The author hopes any Democrats brought down will be “small fish” compared to Rep. DeLay. I suspect the tone will change if Democrat leaders find themselves in trouble.

FYI, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was caught revising “mistaken” travel reports. In fact, House records and reports indicate Ms. Pelosi and other Democrats are “guilty” of many of the same charges Democrats made against Rep. DeLay. If the charges are serious and based on credible information, they need to be pursued regardless of party affiliation. If the charges are not, they must be unmasked as such and the people making the charges should be reprimanded for abusing the system.

The Washington Post noted that a lot of travel report “inadvertent error correction” activity has taken place since Democrats decided to go after Rep. DeLay. I’m reminded again about the adage noting those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.